Methods and apparatus for dynamic transmission of retransmission requests

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatus for communication comprise determining whether a communication characteristic value meets or exceeds a communication characteristic threshold value. Additionally, the methods and apparatus comprise adjusting a retransmission request transmission rate when the communication characteristic value meets or exceeds the communication characteristic threshold value. Moreover, the methods and apparatus comprise sending a retransmission request to a network entity based on the adjusted retransmission request transmission rate.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

The present Application for Patent is a continuation-in-part ofNon-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 13/944,602 entitled “METHODSAND APPARATUS FOR ENHANCED STATUS RETRANSMISSION” filed Jul. 17, 2013,which claims priority to Provisional Application No. 61/703,135 entitled“ENHANCED STATUS RETRANSMISSION TECHNIQUES TO IMPROVE CALL PERFORMANCE”filed Sep. 19, 2012, and the present Application for Patent also claimspriority to Provisional Application No. 61/847,450 entitled “METHOD ANDAPPARATUS FOR DYNAMIC STATUS PDU GENERATION IN UPLINK BASED ON UPLINKRADIO CONDITIONS” filed Jul. 17, 2013; and, each of the above-notedapplications is assigned to the assignee hereof and hereby expresslyincorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND

Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wirelesscommunication systems, and more particularly, to enhanced statusretransmissions.

Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide variouscommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging,broadcasts, and so on. Such networks, which are usually multiple accessnetworks, support communications for multiple users by sharing theavailable network resources. One example of such a network is the UMTSTerrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN). The UTRAN is the radio accessnetwork (RAN) defined as a part of the Universal MobileTelecommunications System (UMTS), a third generation (3G) mobile phonetechnology supported by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).The UMTS, which is the successor to Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM) technologies, currently supports various airinterface standards, such as Wideband-Code Division Multiple Access(W-CDMA), Time Division—Code Division Multiple Access (TD-CDMA), andTime Division—Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA). TheUMTS also supports enhanced 3G data communications protocols, such asHigh Speed Packet Access (HSPA), which provides higher data transferspeeds and capacity to associated UMTS networks.

As the demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase,research and development continue to advance the UMTS technologies notonly to meet the growing demand for mobile broadband access, but toadvance and enhance the user experience with mobile communications.

In some wireless communication systems, communication restrictiveparameters, particularly communication restrictions between a receiverand transmitter, may often lead to degradations in wirelesscommunication. Even more, the communication restrictive parametersinhibit wireless devices from achieving higher wireless communicationquality through, for example, less restrictive communication parameters.Thus, improvements in retransmission techniques are desired.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects inorder to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary isnot an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects, and is intendedto neither identify key or critical elements of all aspects nordelineate the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is topresent some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as aprelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

In an aspect, a method of communication comprises determining whether acommunication characteristic meets or exceeds a communicationcharacteristic threshold value. Additionally, the method comprisesadjusting a retransmission request transmission rate when thecommunication characteristic value meets or exceeds the communicationcharacteristic threshold value. Moreover, the method comprises sending aretransmission request to a network entity based on the adjustedretransmission request transmission rate.

In a further aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprisesat least one instruction for determining whether a communicationcharacteristic value meets or exceeds a communication characteristicthreshold value. The non-transitory computer-readable medium furthercomprises at least one instruction for adjusting a retransmissionrequest transmission rate when the communication characteristic valuemeets or exceeds the communication characteristic threshold value.Moreover, the non-transitory computer-readable medium comprises at leastone instruction for sending a retransmission request to a network entitybased on the adjusted retransmission request transmission rate.

In an additional aspect, an apparatus for communication comprises meansfor determining whether a communication characteristic value meets orexceeds a communication characteristic threshold value. The apparatusfurther comprises means for adjusting a retransmission requesttransmission rate when the communication characteristic value meets orexceeds the communication characteristic threshold value. Moreover, theapparatus comprises means for sending a retransmission request to anetwork entity based on the adjusted retransmission request transmissionrate.

In even a further aspect, an apparatus for communication comprises amemory storing executable instructions and a processor in communicationwith the memory, wherein the processor is configured to execute theinstructions to determine whether a communication characteristic valuemeets or exceeds a communication characteristic threshold value.Moreover, the processor is configured to execute the instructions toadjust a retransmission request transmission rate when the communicationcharacteristic value meets or exceeds the communication characteristicthreshold value. Additionally, the processor is configured to executethe instructions to send a retransmission request to a network entitybased on the adjusted retransmission request transmission rate.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the one or moreaspects comprise the features hereinafter fully described andparticularly pointed out in the claims. The following description andthe annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative featuresof the one or more aspects. These features are indicative, however, ofbut a few of the various ways in which the principles of various aspectsmay be employed, and this description is intended to include all suchaspects and their equivalents.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The features, nature, and advantages of the present disclosure willbecome more apparent from the detailed description set forth below whentaken in conjunction with the drawings in which like referencecharacters identify correspondingly throughout and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication network including anaspect of a user equipment that may enhance status retransmissions;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an aspect of the reconfigurationcomponent of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of another aspect of the reconfigurationcomponent, for example, according to FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram of a status retransmission communicationarrangement between a user equipment and a network entity in accordancewith an aspect of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of an aspect of the status retransmission featuresat a user equipment, according to FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of another aspect of the retransmission requestfeatures in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, e.g.,FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardwareimplementation for an apparatus employing a processing system inaccordance with an aspect of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of atelecommunications system in accordance with an aspect of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of an accessnetwork including an aspect of the user equipment described herein;

FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a radioprotocol architecture for the user and control plane including an aspectof the user equipment described herein; and

FIG. 11 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of aNode B in communication with a user equipment in a telecommunicationssystem in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appendeddrawings is intended as a description of various configurations and isnot intended to represent the only configurations in which the conceptsdescribed herein may be practiced. The detailed description includesspecific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understandingof various concepts. However, it will be apparent to those skilled inthe art that these concepts may be practiced without these specificdetails. In some instances, well known structures and components areshown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring such concepts.

The present aspects generally relate to enhanced status retransmissions.Specifically, some user equipments (UEs) may be configured to limitcommunication of retransmission requests to a network entity. Forinstance, during mobility scenarios (e.g., crossing cell coverageboundaries) resulting in communication of a reconfiguration message(e.g., physical channel reconfiguration) from a network entity to a UE,the UE, due to poor network conditions, may not receive a completereconfiguration message. In such scenarios, the UE may communicate aretransmission request to the network entity requesting retransmissionof at least missing portions of the reconfiguration message. However,upon communication of the retransmission request to the network entity,the UE may not be permitted to communicate a subsequent retransmissionrequest for a period of time. That is, for example, the UE may beprohibited from communicating a subsequent retransmission request untilexpiration of a timer. In other aspects, for instance, the UE may beunable to increase the frequency of retransmission request transmissionsto the network entity due to a failure in determining the cause (e.g.,poor radio conditions) of the missing or absent portions of thereconfiguration message.

In such instances, frequent communication of retransmission requests tothe network entity may be vital to ensure call continuation, or at leastimprove call performance. As such, such limitations are especiallydetrimental to established call sessions, which may experience call dropas a result of the inability by the UE to successfully completereconfiguration within, for instance, a reconfiguration time period.Accordingly, in some aspects, the present methods and apparatuses mayprovide an efficient solution, as compared to current solutions, toenhance call quality by increasing the transmission rate ofretransmission requests communicated to a network entity.

Referring to FIG. 1, in one aspect, a wireless communication system 10includes at least one UE 12 in communication coverage of at least onenetwork entity 14 (e.g., base station). For instance, UE 12 maycommunicate with network 16 by way of network entity 14. Further,network 16 may facilitate communication between UE 12 and second UE 13via, for example, another network entity 15. For example, UE 12 mayconduct data and/or voice communication with second UE 13. Moreover, UE12 may communicate with network entity 14 via one or more communicationchannels 18 utilizing one or more air interfaces. In such aspects, theone or more communication channels 18 may enable communication on one orboth of the uplink and the downlink. Further, communication on the oneor more communication channels 18 may include communication of one ormore PDUs 20. For instance, PDUs 20 may include radio link control (RLC)acknowledgement mode (AM) PDUs that may carry configuration data forconfiguring UE 12 during, for example, mobility scenarios.

In some aspects, UEs 12 and 13 may also be referred to by those skilledin the art as a mobile station, a subscriber station, a mobile unit, asubscriber unit, a wireless unit, a remote unit, a mobile device, awireless device, a wireless communications device, a remote device, amobile subscriber station, an access terminal, a mobile terminal, awireless terminal, a remote terminal, a handset, a terminal, a useragent, a mobile client, a client, or some other suitable terminology.

Additionally, network entities 14 and 15 may be a macrocell, picocell,femtocell, access point, relay, Node B, mobile Node B, UE (e.g.,communicating in peer-to-peer or ad-hoc mode with UEs 12 and 13), orsubstantially any type of component that can communicate with UEs 12 and13 to provide wireless network access at the UEs 12 and 13. In someaspects, UE 13 may be the same as or similar to UE 12.

According to the present aspects, UE 12 may include reconfigurationcomponent 22, which may be configured to reconfigure communication(e.g., physical channel reconfiguration) with a network entity (e.g.,network entity 14) in response to receiving a reconfiguration messagefrom the network entity. For instance, reconfiguration component 22 maybe configured to obtain or otherwise receive at least a first portion ofa reconfiguration message 26 from network entity 14. The first portionmay be any one or more of plurality of PDUs 20 (e.g., PDU₁, PDU₂, PDU₃,PDU₄, PDU_(n)), where n is a positive integer. Further, PDUs 20 mayinclude one or both of signaling radio bearer (SRB) data and data radiobearer (DRB) data.

However, in some cases (e.g., poor radio conditions), not all of thePDUs 20 forming the reconfiguration message may be received at UE 12.Such cases may lead to poor wireless service experiences, such as calldrops, when PDUs containing SRB data for facilitating configuration arenot received. Hence, to assist in addressing such deficiencies,reconfiguration component 22 may include reconfiguration messagedetection component 24. In other aspects, reconfiguration message 26 mayalternatively be referred to as a configuration message, both of whichmay, in some non-limiting scenarios, configure UE 12 to adjust a networkentity connection so as to maintain an active communication session(e.g., call).

In an aspect, reconfiguration message detection component 24 may beconfigured to detect an absent portion (e.g., absent/missing secondportion) of the reconfiguration message 26. For instance,reconfiguration message detection component 24 may detect one or moremissing PDUs from the communicated PDUs 20 forming an absent secondportion of the reconfiguration message 26. In other words, duringreconfiguration (e.g., physical channel reconfiguration), thereconfiguration message 26 transmitted by network entity 14 to UE 12,may not be received by UE 12 in its entirety due to poor networkconditions. As such, reconfiguration message detection component 24 maydetect or otherwise determine the absent second portion (e.g., one ormore missing PDUs).

It should be noted that “second portion” as used in this case does notrestrict the absent second portion of the plurality of PDUs 20 to belater in sequence or later in time relative to a received first portionof the plurality of PDUs 20. In some aspects, for instance, the absentsecond portion may be any one or more of the plurality of PDUs 20 (e.g.,PDU₁, PDU₂, PDU₃, PDU₄, PDU_(n)) not received by UE 12 from networkentity 14. Upon detection of an absent second portion, reconfigurationcomponent 22 and/or a subcomponent thereof, may be configured to sendone or more retransmission requests 25 to the network entity 14 torequest retransmission of at least the missing PDUs forming the absentsecond portion. In some aspects, the one or more retransmission requests25 may be one or more status PDUs.

Moreover, reconfiguration component 22 may include communicationcharacteristic component 62, which may be configured to determine aradio condition communication state between UE 12 and network entity 14.Specifically, for example, communication characteristic component 62 maybe configured to receive one or more communication characteristicmeasurements indicating the current and/or expected radio conditioncommunication state. As such, communication characteristic component 62may be configured to compare a communication characteristic valuerepresentative of or otherwise related to one or more receivedcommunication characteristic measurements so as to provide an indicationof the radio condition communication state. For instance, based on suchdetermination, reconfiguration component 22 may be configured to adjusta retransmission request transmission rate to increase the transmissionrate of the retransmission requests to network entity 14.

In further aspects, reconfiguration component 22 may include statusprohibit timer 28, which may be configured to prohibit communication ofretransmission requests from UE 12 to network entity 14 during a statusprohibit time period 56. In other words, during the status prohibit timeperiod 56, conventional aspects prevented UE 12 from sending a pluralityof retransmission requests 25, for example, in order to conservebandwidth and/or conserve communication resources. However, as will bedescribed in further detail below, aspects of the reconfigurationcomponent 22 include various component and/or subcomponents that enablethe sending of one or more retransmission requests 25 irrespective ofstate of status prohibit timer 28, e.g., no matter if status prohibittime period is still in effect or otherwise has not yet expired.

In additional aspects, UE 12 may include communication component 30,which may be configured to transmit and receive data and/or voicecommunication (e.g., PDUs 20) on one or more communication channels 18with one or more network entities (e.g., network entity 14). Forexample, in an aspect, the communication component 30 may receive atleast one reconfiguration message 26 from one or more network entities(e.g., network entity 14), and/or may transmit one or moreretransmission requests 25 to the network entity. Further, communicationcomponent 30 may include, but is not limited to, one or more of atransmitter, a receiver, a transceiver, protocol stacks, transmit chaincomponents, and receive chain components.

Referring to FIG. 2, an aspect of the reconfiguration component 22 mayinclude various components and/or subcomponents, which may be configuredto facilitate enhanced reconfiguration (e.g., physical channelreconfiguration). For instance, reconfiguration component 22 may enhancereconfiguration during a call session by increasing the frequency ofretransmission requests communicated to a network entity when one ormore missing PDUs forming an absent second portion are detected. In suchinstances, reconfiguration component 22 may be configured to effectivelydisregard status prohibit timer 28, and hence, communicate one or moreretransmission requests (e.g., status PDUs) to network entity 14 duringa state of status prohibit timer 28 when status prohibit time period 56is in effect or otherwise has not expired. The variouscomponent/subcomponents described herein enable reconfigurationcomponent 22 to achieve such enhanced reconfigurations.

In an aspect, reconfiguration component 22 may include reconfigurationmessage detection component 24. For instance, reconfiguration messagedetection component 24 may be configured to receive and/or decode atleast one of a first portion and a second portion of a reconfigurationmessage 26 from a network entity, where a non-received or non-decodedportion of reconfiguration message 26 may be referred to as an absentsecond portion. In a non-limiting case, for example, a first portion ofthe reconfiguration message 26 may include PDU₁ 30, PDU₂ 32 and PDU₃ 34.Further, in a non-limiting example, the absent second portion mayinclude PDU₄ 36 and PDUn 38, with n being any number greater than four.It should be understood that any one or any combination of the PDUsshown as part of, or forming reconfiguration message 26 may beconsidered as either the first portion or second absent portion.

Further, reconfiguration message detection component 24 may include PDUdetection component 47, which may be configured to detect at least anabsent second portion of the reconfiguration message 26. For instance,PDU detection component 47 may detect one or more missing PDUs (e.g.,PDU₄ 36, PDU_(n) 38) forming an absent second portion of thereconfiguration message 26. PDU detection component 47 may employvarious detection techniques to detect or otherwise determine missingPDUs forming an absent second portion.

For example, in some aspects, PDU detection component 47 may detect theabsent second portion by determining one or more missing PDU sequencenumbers forming the reconfiguration message 26. For instance, in aspectswhere PDU₁ 30, PDU₂ 32 and PDU₄ 36 are received and form the firstportion of reconfiguration message 26, PDU detection component 47 maydetermine that at least PDU₃ 34 is missing based on its absence using,for example, the PDU sequence numbers 51. Further, in other aspects, orin conjunction with the previous aspect, PDU detection component 47 maydetect the absent second portion by determining one or more missing PDUsbased at least on a missing PDU indicator 53. In such aspects, themissing PDU indicator 53 indicates at least an approximate size orduration in the time domain of one or more PDUs forming thereconfiguration message 26. For example, in aspects where PDU₁ 30, PDU₂32 and PDU₃ 34 are received and form the first portion, PDU detectioncomponent 47 may determine, based on the missing PDU indicator 53 and asum of the size of PDU₁ 30, PDU₂ 32 and PDU₃ 34, that at least PDU₄ 36is missing.

In further aspects, upon detection of one or more missing PDUs (e.g.,PDU₄ 36) forming the absent second portion, reconfiguration component 22may, via communication component 30 (FIG. 1), configure retransmissionrequest component 48 to transmit one or more retransmission requests 25to network entity 14. For example, the one or more retransmissionrequests 25 may be in the form of one or more status PDUs. In someaspects, one or more status PDUs may include Status PDU₁ 50, Status PDU₂52, and Status PDU_(n) 54, where n is any number greater than three.

For instance, a status PDU (e.g., Status PDU₁ 50) may inform the networkentity (e.g., network entity 14) the acknowledgment information of theone or more RLC (Acknowledge Mode) PDUs (e.g., PDUs formingreconfirmation message 26) received at reconfiguration component 22. Inother words, a status PDU may indicate to the network entity incommunication with UE the PDUs not received by the UE (e.g., absent ormissing PDU₄ 36). As such, retransmission request component 48 may beconfigured to continuously or periodically transmit one or moreretransmission requests 25 in the form of status PDUs (e.g., Status PDU₁50) to indicate the absent or missing PDUs (e.g., PDU₄ 36). Each statusPDU transmitted to the network entity may indicate the same or differentabsent or missing PDU(s). For instance, regardless of whether some ofabsent or missing PDU(s) have been retransmitted to UE 12 in response toa status PDU (e.g., Status PDU₁ 50) received by network entity 14, UE 12may continue to periodically transmit subsequent status PDU(s) (e.g.,Status PDU₂ 52) to network entity 14 indicating the same absent ormissing PDU information (e.g., SRB data).

Moreover, upon detection of one or more missing PDUs (e.g., PDU₄ 36)forming the absent second portion, reconfiguration message detectioncomponent 24 may be configured to send or otherwise provide statusprohibit timer disregard state trigger 46 to retransmission requestcomponent 48 to initialize a status prohibit timer disregard state 58.In an aspect, for example, status prohibit timer disregard state 58comprises a configuration or operating state of retransmission requestcomponent 48 that allows retransmission request component 48 to send oneor more retransmission requests, e.g., status PDUs, to network entity 14to request retransmission of at least one or more missing PDUs, e.g.,the determined absent second portion of reconfiguration message 26 fromnetwork entity 14 irrespective of status prohibit timer 28 and/or thestatus prohibit time period 56. Further, in some aspects, the sending ofthe status prohibit timer disregard state trigger 46 to initializestatus prohibit timer disregard state 58 may be done concurrently withthe sending of Status PDU₁ 50 to network entity 14.

However, rather than waiting until an expiration of status prohibit timeperiod 56, retransmission request component 48 operating in statusprohibit timer disregard state 58 may be enabled or otherwise configuredto periodically transmit subsequent status PDUs (e.g., Status PDU₂ 52)during the status prohibit time period 56. In some aspects,retransmission request component 48 may send a status PDU periodicallyfor every defined time interval (e.g., every TTI). Hence, retransmissionrequest component 48 operating in the status prohibit timer disregardstate 58 may transmit a plurality of status PDUs (e.g., Status PDU₁ 50,Status PDU₂ 52, Status PDU₃ 54) to the network entity 14, eachindicating some or all of the absent or missing PDU(s) (e.g., PDU₄ 36).

Accordingly, operating in status prohibit timer disregard state 58 mayeffectively enable reconfiguration component 22, and in particular,retransmission request component 48, to disregard status prohibit timer28 during the status prohibit time period 56 and/or until a completereconfiguration message 26 is determined to have been formed and/orreceived. In some aspects, for example, reconfiguration message 26 maybe considered complete when all SRBs forming the reconfiguration message26 have received. However, it should be understood that theretransmission request 25 described herein may request retransmission ofone or both of SRBs and DRBs. Further, it should be understood thatstatus prohibit timer 28 may be any timer which prohibits or otherwiseprevents the communication of retransmission requests to a networkentity until the expiration of some timer.

In further aspects, in response to sending one or more status PDUs tonetwork entity 14, reconfiguration component 22, and more specifically,reconfiguration message detection component 24, may be configured toreceive or otherwise obtain retransmitted second portion 40. Forexample, retransmitted second portion 40 may include at least PDU₁ 42,which may contain at least SRB₁ and optionally DRB₁. Upon receiving theretransmitted second portion 40, reconfiguration message detectioncomponent 24 may again detect or otherwise determine whether one or moremissing PDUs forming the absent second portion remain missing or absent.When reconfiguration message detection component 24 detects or otherwisedetermines that the absent second portion has been received, and/or thata complete reconfiguration message 26 is formed, it may instructretransmission request component 48 to halt the retransmission requests.

Additionally, aspects of the communication characteristic component 62are described herein with respect to FIG. 3. However, it should beunderstood that communication characteristic component 62, andsubcomponents thereof, may be implemented or executed as part of thefeatures and aspects described herein with respect to the variouscomponents and/or subcomponent of the reconfiguration component 22 ofFIG. 2. Moreover, in some aspects, the aspects described herein withrespect to reconfiguration component 22 may be implemented, in part oras a whole, at a network entity, such as network entity 14 (FIG. 1).

Referring to FIG. 3, a further aspect of the reconfiguration component22 may include various components and/or subcomponents, which may beconfigured to facilitate enhanced reconfiguration (e.g., via receivedreconfiguration message 26) with another network entity (e.g., toreconfigure connection to network entity 15). In an aspect, for example,reconfiguration component 22 may be configured to facilitate enhancedreconfiguration by increasing a transmission rate of retransmissionrequests 25 communicated to a network entity (e.g., network entity 14)for requesting retransmission of at least an absent portion of thereconfiguration message 26. Specifically, reconfiguration component 22may include reconfiguration message detection component 24, which may beconfigured in a similar manner as described herein with respect to FIG.2. For example, reconfiguration message detection component 24 may beconfigured to detect an absent portion (e.g., of reconfiguration message26, such as absent PDU₄ 36 in FIG. 2).

Further, reconfiguration component 22 may include communicationcharacteristic component 62, which may be configured to determine aradio condition communication state between UE 12 and at least networkentity 14. Specifically, for example, communication characteristiccomponent 62 may be configured to receive one or more communicationcharacteristic measurements 63 indicating the current and/or expectedradio condition communication state. As such, communicationcharacteristic component 62 may be configured to compare a communicationcharacteristic value 64 representative of or otherwise related to one ormore received communication characteristic measurements 63 to acorresponding communication characteristic threshold value 66. Based onthis comparison, communication characteristic component 62 may providean indication of the radio condition communication state 67 between, forexample, UE 12 (FIG. 1) and network entity 14 (FIG. 1).

For example, communication characteristic component 62 may include oneor more communication characteristic threshold values 66 set to indicatea certain communication state, such as a poor radio condition state whenthe communication characteristic value 64 meets or exceeds thecommunication characteristic threshold value 66, or a good radiocondition state when the communication characteristic value 64 does notmeet or exceed the communication characteristic threshold value 66. Insuch aspects, the value of the communication characteristic thresholdmay be static or dynamic, and may be based on historical information ofradio condition communication state 67.

In some aspects, the communication characteristic value 64 may includeone or more of a transmission automatic gain control (TxAGC), a transmitpower control (TPC) bit value, block error rate (BLER) value,acknowledgment (ACK) value, negative ACK value, hybrid automatic repeatrequest (HARQ) value, and a radio link control (RLC) frame error rate(FER) value. Hence, communication characteristic value 64 may be a valueindicative of a radio condition state between UE 12 (FIG. 1) and anetwork entity based at least on, or at least determined by one or moreof the received communication characteristic measurements 63 (e.g.,TxAGC and TPC bit).

In such aspects, communication characteristic component 62 may beconfigured to monitor the received communication characteristicmeasurement by continuously comparing or determining whether acommunication characteristic value 64 corresponding to one or more ofthe communication characteristic measurements 63 (e.g., TxAGC) meets orexceeds communication characteristic threshold value 66. In anon-limiting example, communication characteristic component 62 may beconfigured to receive one or both of TxAGC measurements and TPC bitmeasurements over the course of or during a period of time (e.g.,configuration time period).

As such, communication characteristic component 62 may be configured tocontinuously monitor, by tracking, counting or otherwise determining acorresponding total number of a respective communication characteristicmeasurement value received over the course of or during the period oftime. For example, communication characteristic component 62 may beconfigured to track a time duration during which the TxAGC value may beequal to or indicate a high TxAGC level. Additionally, in other aspects,communication characteristic component 62 may be configured to count orotherwise maintain a number representative of or equal to a TPC bitvalue instructing/requesting an increase in transmission power. Thus,based on a comparison of communication characteristic value 64 with acorresponding communication characteristic threshold value 66,communication characteristic component 62 may generate an indication ofthe radio condition communication state.

In additional aspects, reconfiguration component 22 may includeretransmission request component 48, which may be configured to adjust aretransmission request transmission rate based on the radio conditioncommunication state. In an aspect, for instance, when a comparisonbetween the communication characteristic value 64 and communicationcharacteristic threshold value 66 indicates or otherwise signifies poorradio conditions between UE 12 (FIG. 1) and network entity 14 (FIG. 1).Specifically, for example, based on a determination by communicationcharacteristic component 62 that communication characteristic value 64meets or exceeds communication characteristic threshold value 66,retransmission request component 48 may be configured to adjust aretransmission request transmission rate 60 to increase the transmissionrate of the retransmission requests (e.g., Status PDUs) to networkentity 14 (e.g., until a complete reconfiguration message is receivedand/or determined).

For instance, retransmission request component 48 may be configured toadjust the retransmission request transmission rate 60 by increasing theretransmission request transmission rate by a value corresponding to adifference between the communication characteristic value 64 and thecommunication characteristic threshold value 66. In some aspects, theincrease in the retransmission request transmission rate 60 may beproportional to an increase in the difference between the communicationcharacteristic value 64 and the communication characteristic thresholdvalue 66. That is, as the radio conditions worsen, the transmission rateof retransmission requests (e.g., Status PDU) transmissions increases.Further, in other aspects, retransmission request component 48 may beconfigured to reduce a transmission interval period between successiveretransmission request transmissions to increase a transmission rate ofretransmission request transmissions (e.g., retransmission requesttransmission rate 60) to a network entity (e.g., network entity 14, FIG.1). In some aspects, the retransmission request transmission rate 60 mayindicate or otherwise signify a transmission rate of successiveretransmission requests 25 to the network entity. Additionally,reconfiguration component may be configured to trigger a status prohibittimer disregard state 58 (FIG. 3) for at least a portion of a statusprohibit time period 56 (FIG. 3) of a status prohibit timer 28 when thecommunication characteristic value 64 does not meet or exceed thecommunication characteristic threshold value 66.

In a non-limiting aspect demonstrating the dynamic nature by whichreconfiguration component 22 may transmit retransmission requests 25 atan increased retransmission request transmission rate 60 to a networkentity, reconfiguration component 22 may be configured to continuouslyadjust the retransmission request transmission rate 60 as the radioconditions worsen (e.g., based on the determination by communicationcharacteristic component 62). That is, in such non-limiting aspects, asthe radio conditions worsen, the time duration during which the TxAGCvalue may be equal to or indicate a high TxAGC level and/or the numberrepresentative of or equal to a TPC bit value instructing/requesting anincrease in transmission power may increase dramatically such that theyfar exceed an initial communication characteristic threshold value 66.

As such, in an optional aspect, communication characteristic component62 may include two or more communication characteristic threshold values66, each of which may be associated with a correspondingly increasingretransmission request transmission rate 60 (note: for simplicity in thedrawing, only a single communication characteristic threshold value 66corresponding to a single retransmission request transmission rate 60 isillustrated). In other words, as the communication characteristic value64 increases, a progressively higher communication characteristicthreshold value will be met or satisfied, thereby triggering asuccessively higher retransmission request transmission rate 60.Moreover, in some aspects, the aspects described herein with respect toreconfiguration component 22 may be implemented, in part or as a whole,at a network entity, such as network entity 14 (FIG. 1).

Referring to FIG. 4, an example conceptual diagram of a reconfigurationevent is illustrated. In this example, a call 72 between UE 12 andanother UE (e.g., second UE 13, FIG. 1) is established and/or is ongoingvia network entity 14. Further, due to mobility scenarios, networkentity 14 may send reconfiguration message 26 to UE 12. However, as aresult of poor network conditions and/or poor connection,reconfiguration message 26 may not have been received in its entirety byUE 12, and/or may not have been properly decoded, at UE 12. That is, oneor more missing PDUs 76 forming an absent second portion are detected byreconfiguration component 22. Thus, reconfiguration component 22 maysend one or more Status PDUs 74, including, for instance, first statusPDU (Status PDU₁), indicating or otherwise identifying the one or moremissing PDUs forming the absent second portion.

In an aspect, UE 12 may determine, via reconfiguration component 22, andupon receiving a missing/absent portion of reconfiguration message 26(e.g., missing/absent PDUs), that poor radio conditions exist withnetwork entity 14. Specifically, UE 12 may determine a radio conditioncommunication state 67 (FIG. 3) with network entity 14. For example,communication characteristic component 62 may be configured to receiveone or more communication characteristic measurements 63 indicating thecurrent and/or expected radio condition communication state. As such,communication characteristic component 62 may be configured to compare acommunication characteristic value 64 or 66 (see FIG. 3) representativeof or otherwise related to one or more received communicationcharacteristic measurements (e.g., TxAGC and/or TPC bit) so as toprovide an indication of the radio condition communication state 67(FIG. 3).

For instance, based on such determination, reconfiguration component 22may be configured to adjust a retransmission request transmission rate60 (FIG. 3) to increase the transmission rate of the retransmissionrequests (Status PDUs) to network entity 14. Accordingly, network entity14 may transmit one or more missing PDUs 76 (e.g., in the form of, orincluded within one or more reconfiguration messages). In such aspects,the missing PDUs 76 may be transmitted by network entity 14, andcorrespondingly received by UE 12, in response to the transmission ofone or more respective Status PDUs 74. Additionally, missing PDUs 76 mayinclude transmitted second portion 40, which may in turn include one orboth of SRB and DRB information. For example, to prevent signalingoverload and/or high bandwidth usage, network entity 14 may transmitonly the SRB information to facilitate the reconfiguration procedure atUE 12 (e.g., reselection/handover).

In other aspects, upon transmission of Status PDU₁, status prohibittimer 28 may be initiated or turned on for status prohibit time period56, which prohibits further status transmissions until expiration ofstatus prohibit timer 28 and/or status prohibit time period 56. However,in cases of an ongoing call or communication session, according to thepresent aspects, to the present apparatus and methods may effectivelydisregard the status prohibit timer 28 to ensure successfulreconfiguration and call preservation (e.g., when a determination thatcommunication characteristic value 64 (FIG. 3) does not meet or exceedcommunication characteristic threshold value 66 (FIG. 3)). Hence, inthese aspects, reconfiguration component 22 may send subsequent statusPDUs (e.g., Status PDU₂, Status PDU₃, Status PDU_(n)) even when thestatus prohibit timer 28 is activated.

Further, network entity 14 may, upon receiving one or more status PDUs,transmit at least the missing PDUs (e.g., Missing PDU₁) to UE 12.Reconfiguration component 22 may continue sending status PDUs to networkentity until a complete reconfiguration message 26 is received (e.g.,missing PDUs received), even when status prohibit timer 28 is activatedand/or when status prohibit time period 56 has not expired. Moreover, insome aspects, the aspects described herein with respect toreconfiguration component 22 may be implemented, in part or as a whole,at a network entity, such as network entity 14.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, the methods are shown and described as aseries of acts for purposes of simplicity of explanation. However, it isto be understood and appreciated that the methods (and further methodsrelated thereto) are not limited by the order of acts, as some acts may,in accordance with one or more aspects, occur in different orders and/orconcurrently with other acts from that shown and described herein. Forexample, it is to be appreciated that the methods may alternatively berepresented as a series of interrelated states or events, such as in astate diagram. Moreover, not all illustrated acts may be required toimplement a method in accordance with one or more features describedherein.

Referring to FIG. 5, in operation, a UE such as UE 12 (FIG. 1) mayperform one aspect of a method 80 for enhancing status retransmission byinitiate status prohibit timer disregard state based at least in part ondetecting an absent second portion.

In an aspect, at block 82, method 80 includes receiving a first portionof a reconfiguration message. For example, as described herein, UE 12may execute reconfiguration component 22 (FIGS. 1 and 2) to receive atleast a first portion (e.g., PDU₁ 30, PDU₂ 32 and/or PDU₃ 34) of areconfiguration message 26 from a network entity 14. In some aspects,the first portion of the reconfiguration message 26 may be communicatedwithin one or more RLC AM PDUs. Further, one or more PDUs (e.g., PDU₁30, PDU₂ 32 and/or PDU₃ 34) forming the first portion may include atleast one of signaling radio bearer (SRB) data and data radio bearer(DRB) data.

Moreover, at block 84, method 80 includes detecting an absent secondportion of the reconfiguration message. For instance, as describedherein, reconfiguration component 22 (FIGS. 1 and 2) may executereconfiguration message detection component 24 to detect an absentsecond portion (e.g., PDU₄ 36) of the reconfiguration message 26. In anaspect, the absent second portion of the reconfiguration message 26 maybe communicated within one or more RLC AM PDUs. Further, one or morePDUs (e.g., PDU₄ 36) forming the absent second portion may include atleast one of signaling radio bearer (SRB) data and data radio bearer(DRB) data.

Additionally, in some aspects, detecting the absent second portion mayinclude determining one or more missing PDU sequence numbers in adefined range of PDU sequence number forming the reconfigurationmessage. In other aspects, or in conjunction with the previous aspect,detecting the absent second portion may include determining one or moremissing PDUs based at least on a PDU sequence timer.

At block 86, method 80 may include triggering a status prohibit timerdisregard state. For example, as described herein, upon detecting anabsent second portion of the reconfiguration message 26 (FIGS. 1 and 2),reconfiguration message detection component 24 may initiate statusprohibit timer disregard state 58 based at least on status prohibittimer disregard state trigger 46. In some aspects, the status prohibittimer disregard state permits the sending of one or more retransmissionrequests during the status prohibit time period 56 of the statusprohibit timer 28.

Further, at block 88, method 80 includes sending a retransmissionrequest. For instance, as described herein, reconfiguration component 22(FIGS. 1 and 2) may execute retransmission request component 48 to sendone or more retransmission requests to network entity 14 based at leastin part on the detecting of the absent second portion (e.g., PDU₄ 36) ofthe reconfiguration message 26 and irrespective of a state of statusprohibit timer 28. In some aspects, sending the retransmission requestmay include sending one or more status PDU (e.g., Status PDU₁ 50) to thenetwork entity 14. In such aspects, the status PDU requests the networkentity 14 retransmit at least the absent second portion of thereconfiguration message 26. In other aspects, the sending of the statusPDU occurs prior to an expiration of the status prohibit timer 28.

Additionally, at block 90, method 80 may optionally include receiving aretransmitted second portion of the reconfiguration message. Forexample, as described herein, reconfiguration component 22 (FIGS. 1 and2) may execute reconfiguration message detection component 24 to receiveone or more retransmitted second portions (e.g., PDU₁ 42) of thereconfiguration message 26 in response to sending one or moreretransmission requests (e.g., Status PDU₁ 50) to the network entity 14.

At block 92, method 80 may optionally include repeating the sending ofthe retransmission request for every defined time interval. Forinstance, as described herein, reconfiguration component 22 (FIGS. 1 and2) may execute retransmission request component 48 to repeat the sendingof the retransmission request (e.g., Status PDU₁ 50) for every definedtime interval (e.g., every TTI) until a complete configuration messageis obtained.

Referring to FIG. 6, in operation, a UE such as UE 12 (FIG. 1) mayperform one aspect of a method 100 for enhancing status retransmissionby increasing a retransmission request transmission rate during poorradio conditions. For example, in an aspect, method 100 may be executedby reconfiguration component 22 (FIGS. 1-4) of UE 12. In an aspect, atblock 102, method 100 may optionally detect an absent portion of aconfiguration message. For example, as described herein, reconfigurationcomponent 22 (FIGS. 1-3) may execute reconfiguration message detectioncomponent 24 (FIGS. 1-3) to detect an absent portion of a configurationmessage based at least in part on determining one or more missing PDUsequence numbers forming the configuration message.

Further, at block 104, method 100 may determine whether a communicationcharacteristic value meets or exceeds a communication characteristicthreshold value. For instance, as described herein, reconfigurationcomponent 22 (FIGS. 1-3) may execute communication characteristiccomponent 62 (FIGS. 2 and 3) to determine whether a communicationcharacteristic value 64 (FIG. 3) meets or exceeds a communicationcharacteristic threshold value 66 (FIG. 3). At block 106, method 100 mayreturn to block 86 (FIG. 5) when a determination is made at block 104that communication characteristic value does not meet or exceed acommunication characteristic threshold value.

Otherwise, at block 108, method 100 may adjust a retransmission requesttransmission rate. For example, as described herein, reconfigurationcomponent 22 (FIGS. 1-3) may execute retransmission request component 48(FIGS. 2 and 3) to adjust a retransmission request transmission rate 60(FIG. 3) when the communication characteristic value meets or exceedsthe communication characteristic threshold value, thereby indicating apoor radio condition communication state 67.

At block 110, method 100 may send a retransmission request. Forinstance, as described herein, reconfiguration component 22 (FIGS. 1-3)may execute retransmission request component 48 (FIGS. 2 and 3) to sendthe retransmission request to the network entity based on the adjustedretransmission request transmission rate 60 (FIG. 3).

Further, at block 112, method 100 may optionally receive a subsequent orsecond configuration message in response to sending the retransmissionrequest. For example, as described herein, reconfiguration component 22(FIGS. 1-3) may execute reconfiguration message detection component 24to receive one or more retransmitted portions (e.g., PDU₁ 42) of thereconfiguration message 26 in response to sending one or moreretransmission requests (e.g., Status PDU₁ 50) to the network entity 14(FIG. 1).

As such, method 100 may return to block 102 and continue to perform theaspects of blocks 104-110 until a complete reconfiguration message isreceived/determined. Additionally, in such aspects, a successive orsubsequent adjustment of the retransmission request transmission ratemay progressively increase the transmission rate of the retransmissionrequests as the communication characteristic value exceeds a highercommunication characteristic threshold value at block 104.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardwareimplementation for an apparatus 120 employing a processing system 134,wherein the system may be the same as or similar to UE 12 executingreconfiguration component 22 (FIG. 1). In this example, the processingsystem 134 may be implemented with a bus architecture, representedgenerally by the bus 122. The bus 122 may include any number ofinterconnecting buses and bridges depending on the specific applicationof the processing system 134 and the overall design constraints. The bus122 links together various circuits including one or more processors,represented generally by the processor 124, and computer-readable media,represented generally by the computer-readable medium 126 and UEcomponents (e.g., UE 12), such as reconfiguration component 22 (FIG. 1).

The bus 122 may also link various other circuits such as timing sources,peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management circuits, whichare well known in the art, and therefore, will not be described anyfurther. A bus interface 128 provides an interface between the bus 122and a transceiver 130. The transceiver 130 provides a means forcommunicating with various other apparatus over a transmission medium.Depending upon the nature of the apparatus, a user interface 132 (e.g.,keypad, display, speaker, microphone, joystick) may also be provided.

The processor 124 is responsible for managing the bus 122 and generalprocessing, including the execution of software stored on thecomputer-readable medium 126. The software, when executed by theprocessor 124, causes the processing system 134 to perform the variousfunctions described infra for any particular apparatus. Thecomputer-readable medium 126 may also be used for storing data that ismanipulated by the processor 124 when executing software.

Further, reconfiguration component 22 (FIG. 1) may be implemented by anyone or more of processor 124 and computer-readable medium 126. Forexample, the processor and/or computer-readable medium 126 may beconfigured to, via reconfiguration component 22, detect absent portionsof reconfiguration messages and send one or more retransmission requestsin a wireless communications device (e.g., UE 12).

The various concepts presented throughout this disclosure may beimplemented across a broad variety of telecommunication systems, networkarchitectures, and communication standards.

Referring to FIG. 8, by way of example and without limitation, theaspects of the present disclosure are presented with reference to a UMTSsystem 200 employing a W-CDMA air interface. A UMTS network includesthree interacting domains: a Core Network (CN) 204, a UMTS TerrestrialRadio Access Network (UTRAN) 202, and User Equipment (UE) 210 that maybe the same or similar as UE 12 including reconfiguration component 22(FIG. 1). In this example, the UTRAN 202 provides various wirelessservices including telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcasts, and/orother services. The UTRAN 202 may include a plurality of Radio NetworkSubsystems (RNSs) such as an RNS 207, each controlled by a respectiveRadio Network Controller (RNC) such as an RNC 206. Here, the UTRAN 202may include any number of RNCs 206 and RNSs 207 in addition to the RNCs206 and RNSs 207 illustrated herein. The RNC 206 is an apparatusresponsible for, among other things, assigning, reconfiguring andreleasing radio resources within the RNS 207. The RNC 206 may beinterconnected to other RNCs (not shown) in the UTRAN 202 throughvarious types of interfaces such as a direct physical connection, avirtual network, or the like, using any suitable transport network.

Communication between a UE 210 and a Node B 208 may be considered asincluding a physical (PHY) layer and a medium access control (MAC)layer. Further, communication between a UE 210 and an RNC 206 by way ofa respective Node B 208 may be considered as including a RRC layer. Inthe instant specification, the PHY layer may be considered layer 1; theMAC layer may be considered layer 2; and the RRC layer may be consideredlayer 3. Information hereinbelow utilizes terminology introduced in theRRC Protocol Specification, 3GPP TS 25.331 v9.1.0, incorporated hereinby reference.

The geographic region covered by the RNS 207 may be divided into anumber of cells, with a radio transceiver apparatus serving each cell. Aradio transceiver apparatus is commonly referred to as a Node B in UMTSapplications, but may also be referred to by those skilled in the art asa base station (BS), a base transceiver station (BTS), a radio basestation, a radio transceiver, a transceiver function, a basic serviceset (BSS), an extended service set (ESS), an access point (AP), or someother suitable terminology. For clarity, three Node Bs 208 are shown ineach RNS 207; however, the RNSs 207 may include any number of wirelessNode Bs. The Node Bs 208 provide wireless access points to a CN 204 forany number of mobile apparatuses, such as UE 210.

Examples of a mobile apparatus include a cellular phone, a smart phone,a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a laptop, a notebook, anetbook, a smartbook, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a satelliteradio, a global positioning system (GPS) device, a multimedia device, avideo device, a digital audio player (e.g., MP3 player), a camera, agame console, or any other similar functioning device. The mobileapparatus is commonly referred to as a UE in UMTS applications, but mayalso be referred to by those skilled in the art as a mobile station, asubscriber station, a mobile unit, a subscriber unit, a wireless unit, aremote unit, a mobile device, a wireless device, a wirelesscommunications device, a remote device, a mobile subscriber station, anaccess terminal, a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, a remoteterminal, a handset, a terminal, a user agent, a mobile client, aclient, or some other suitable terminology. In a UMTS system, the UE 210may further include a universal subscriber identity module (USIM) 211,which contains a user's subscription information to a network. Forillustrative purposes, one UE 210 is shown in communication with anumber of the Node Bs 208. The DL, also called the forward link, refersto the communication link from a Node B 208 to a UE 210, and the UL,also called the reverse link, refers to the communication link from a UE210 to a Node B 208.

The CN 204 interfaces with one or more access networks, such as theUTRAN 202. As shown, the CN 204 is a GSM core network. However, as thoseskilled in the art will recognize, the various concepts presentedthroughout this disclosure may be implemented in a RAN, or othersuitable access network, to provide UEs with access to types of CNsother than GSM networks.

The CN 204 includes a circuit-switched (CS) domain and a packet-switched

(PS) domain. Some of the circuit-switched elements are a Mobile servicesSwitching Centre (MSC), a Visitor location register (VLR) and a GatewayMSC. Packet-switched elements include a Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN)and a Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN). Some network elements, like EIR,HLR, VLR and AuC may be shared by both of the circuit-switched andpacket-switched domains. In the illustrated example, the CN 204 supportscircuit-switched services with a MSC 212 and a GMSC 214. In someapplications, the GMSC 214 may be referred to as a media gateway (MGW).

One or more RNCs, such as the RNC 206, may be connected to the MSC 212.The MSC 212 is an apparatus that controls call setup, call routing, andUE mobility functions. The MSC 212 also includes a VLR that containssubscriber-related information for the duration that a UE is in thecoverage area of the MSC 212. The GMSC 214 provides a gateway throughthe MSC 212 for the UE to access a circuit-switched network 216. TheGMSC 214 includes a home location register (HLR) 215 containingsubscriber data, such as the data reflecting the details of the servicesto which a particular user has subscribed. The HLR is also associatedwith an authentication center (AuC) that contains subscriber-specificauthentication data. When a call is received for a particular UE, theGMSC 214 queries the HLR 215 to determine the UE's location and forwardsthe call to the particular MSC serving that location.

The CN 204 also supports packet-data services with a serving GPRSsupport node (SGSN) 218 and a gateway GPRS support node (GGSN) 220.GPRS, which stands for General Packet Radio Service, is designed toprovide packet-data services at speeds higher than those available withstandard circuit-switched data services. The GGSN 220 provides aconnection for the UTRAN 202 to a packet-based network 222. Thepacket-based network 222 may be the Internet, a private data network, orsome other suitable packet-based network. The primary function of theGGSN 220 is to provide the UEs 210 with packet-based networkconnectivity. Data packets may be transferred between the GGSN 220 andthe UEs 210 through the SGSN 218, which performs primarily the samefunctions in the packet-based domain as the MSC 212 performs in thecircuit-switched domain.

An air interface for UMTS may utilize a spread spectrum Direct-SequenceCode Division Multiple Access (DS-CDMA) system. The spread spectrumDS-CDMA spreads user data through multiplication by a sequence ofpseudorandom bits called chips. The “wideband” W-CDMA air interface forUMTS is based on such direct sequence spread spectrum technology andadditionally calls for a frequency division duplexing (FDD). FDD uses adifferent carrier frequency for the UL and DL between a Node B 208 and aUE 210. Another air interface for UMTS that utilizes DS-CDMA, and usestime division duplexing (TDD), is the TD-SCDMA air interface. Thoseskilled in the art will recognize that although various examplesdescribed herein may refer to a W-CDMA air interface, the underlyingprinciples may be equally applicable to a TD-SCDMA air interface.

An HSPA air interface includes a series of enhancements to the 3G/W-CDMAair interface, facilitating greater throughput and reduced latency.Among other modifications over prior releases, HSPA utilizes hybridautomatic repeat request (HARQ), shared channel transmission, andadaptive modulation and coding. The standards that define HSPA includeHSDPA (high speed downlink packet access) and HSUPA (high speed uplinkpacket access, also referred to as enhanced uplink, or EUL).

HSDPA utilizes as its transport channel the high-speed downlink sharedchannel (HS-DSCH). The HS-DSCH is implemented by three physicalchannels: the high-speed physical downlink shared channel (HS-PDSCH),the high-speed shared control channel (HS-SCCH), and the high-speeddedicated physical control channel (HS-DPCCH).

Among these physical channels, the HS-DPCCH carries the HARQ ACK/NACKsignaling on the uplink to indicate whether a corresponding packettransmission was decoded successfully. That is, with respect to thedownlink, the UE 210 provides feedback to the node B 208 over theHS-DPCCH to indicate whether it correctly decoded a packet on thedownlink.

HS-DPCCH further includes feedback signaling from the UE 210 to assistthe node B 208 in taking the right decision in terms of modulation andcoding scheme and precoding weight selection, this feedback signalingincluding the CQI and PCI.

“HSPA Evolved” or HSPA+is an evolution of the HSPA standard thatincludes MIMO and 64-QAM, enabling increased throughput and higherperformance. That is, in an aspect of the disclosure, the node B 208and/or the UE 210 may have multiple antennas supporting MIMO technology.The use of MIMO technology enables the node B 208 to exploit the spatialdomain to support spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and transmitdiversity.

Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) is a term generally used to referto multi-antenna technology, that is, multiple transmit antennas(multiple inputs to the channel) and multiple receive antennas (multipleoutputs from the channel). MIMO systems generally enhance datatransmission performance, enabling diversity gains to reduce multipathfading and increase transmission quality, and spatial multiplexing gainsto increase data throughput.

Spatial multiplexing may be used to transmit different streams of datasimultaneously on the same frequency. The data steams may be transmittedto a single UE 210 to increase the data rate or to multiple UEs 210 toincrease the overall system capacity. This is achieved by spatiallyprecoding each data stream and then transmitting each spatially precodedstream through a different transmit antenna on the downlink. Thespatially precoded data streams arrive at the UE(s) 210 with differentspatial signatures, which enables each of the UE(s) 210 to recover theone or more the data streams destined for that UE 210. On the uplink,each UE 210 may transmit one or more spatially precoded data streams,which enables the node B 208 to identify the source of each spatiallyprecoded data stream.

Spatial multiplexing may be used when channel conditions are good. Whenchannel conditions are less favorable, beamforming may be used to focusthe transmission energy in one or more directions, or to improvetransmission based on characteristics of the channel. This may beachieved by spatially precoding a data stream for transmission throughmultiple antennas. To achieve good coverage at the edges of the cell, asingle stream beamforming transmission may be used in combination withtransmit diversity.

Generally, for MIMO systems utilizing n transmit antennas, n transportblocks may be transmitted simultaneously over the same carrier utilizingthe same channelization code. Note that the different transport blockssent over the n transmit antennas may have the same or differentmodulation and coding schemes from one another.

On the other hand, Single Input Multiple Output (SIMO) generally refersto a system utilizing a single transmit antenna (a single input to thechannel) and multiple receive antennas (multiple outputs from thechannel). Thus, in a SIMO system, a single transport block is sent overthe respective carrier.

Referring to FIG. 9, an access network 300 in a UTRAN architecture isillustrated in which UE, such as a UE the same as or similar to UE 12including reconfiguration component 22 (FIG. 1) may operate. Themultiple access wireless communication system includes multiple cellularregions (cells), including cells 302, 304, and 306, each of which mayinclude one or more sectors. The multiple sectors can be formed bygroups of antennas with each antenna responsible for communication withUEs in a portion of the cell. For example, in cell 302, antenna groups312, 314, and 316 may each correspond to a different sector. In cell304, antenna groups 318, 320, and 322 each correspond to a differentsector. In cell 306, antenna groups 324, 326, and 328 each correspond toa different sector. The cells 302, 304 and 306 may include severalwireless communication devices, e.g., User Equipment or UEs, which maybe in communication with one or more sectors of each cell 302, 304 or306. For example, UEs 330 and 332 may be in communication with Node B342, UEs 334 and 336 may be in communication with Node B 344, and UEs338 and 340 can be in communication with Node B 346. Here, each Node B342, 344, 346 is configured to provide an access point to a CN 204 (seeFIG. 2) for all the UEs 330, 332, 334, 336, 338, 340 in the respectivecells 302, 304, and 306. In an aspect, the UEs 330, 332, 334, 336, 338and/or 340 may include reconfiguration component 22 (FIG. 1).

As the UE 334 moves from the illustrated location in cell 304 into cell306, a serving cell change (SCC) or handover may occur in whichcommunication with the UE 334 transitions from the cell 304, which maybe referred to as the source cell, to cell 306, which may be referred toas the target cell. Management of the handover procedure may take placeat the UE 334, at the Node Bs corresponding to the respective cells, ata radio network controller 206 (see FIG. 6), or at another suitable nodein the wireless network. For example, during a call with the source cell304, or at any other time, the UE 334 may monitor various parameters ofthe source cell 304 as well as various parameters of neighboring cellssuch as cells 306 and 302. Further, depending on the quality of theseparameters, the UE 334 may maintain communication with one or more ofthe neighboring cells. During this time, the UE 334 may maintain anActive Set, that is, a list of cells that the UE 334 is simultaneouslyconnected to (i.e., the UTRA cells that are currently assigning adownlink dedicated physical channel DPCH or fractional downlinkdedicated physical channel F-DPCH to the UE 334 may constitute theActive Set).

The modulation and multiple access scheme employed by the access network300 may vary depending on the particular telecommunications standardbeing deployed. By way of example, the standard may includeEvolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO) or Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB). EV-DOand UMB are air interface standards promulgated by the 3rd GenerationPartnership Project 2 (3GPP2) as part of the CDMA2000 family ofstandards and employs CDMA to provide broadband Internet access tomobile stations. The standard may alternately be Universal TerrestrialRadio Access (UTRA) employing Wideband-CDMA (W-CDMA) and other variantsof CDMA, such as TD-SCDMA; Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM)employing TDMA; and Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB),IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, and Flash-OFDMemploying OFDMA. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE, LTE Advanced, and GSM aredescribed in documents from the 3GPP organization. CDMA2000 and UMB aredescribed in documents from the 3GPP2 organization. The actual wirelesscommunication standard and the multiple access technology employed willdepend on the specific application and the overall design constraintsimposed on the system.

The radio protocol architecture may take on various forms depending onthe particular application. An example for an HSPA system will now bepresented with reference to FIG. 10.

Referring to FIG. 10, an example radio protocol architecture 400 relatesto the user plane 402 and the control plane 404 of a user equipment (UE)or node B/base station. For example, architecture 400 may be included ina UE such as UE 12 including reconfiguration component 22 (FIG. 1). Theradio protocol architecture 400 for the UE and node B is shown withthree layers: Layer 1 406, Layer 2 408, and Layer 3 410. Layer 1 406 isthe lowest lower and implements various physical layer signal processingfunctions. As such, Layer 1 406 includes the physical layer 407. Layer 2(L2 layer) 408 is above the physical layer 407 and is responsible forthe link between the UE and node B over the physical layer 407. Layer 3(L3 layer) 410 includes a radio resource control (RRC) sublayer 415. TheRRC sublayer 415 handles the control plane signaling of Layer 3 betweenthe UE and the UTRAN.

In the user plane, the L2 layer 408 includes a media access control(MAC) sublayer 409, a radio link control (RLC) sublayer 411, and apacket data convergence protocol (PDCP) 413 sublayer, which areterminated at the node B on the network side. Although not shown, the UEmay have several upper layers above the L2 layer 408 including a networklayer (e.g., IP layer) that is terminated at a PDN gateway on thenetwork side, and an application layer that is terminated at the otherend of the connection (e.g., far end UE, server, etc.).

The PDCP sublayer 413 provides multiplexing between different radiobearers and logical channels. The PDCP sublayer 413 also provides headercompression for upper layer data packets to reduce radio transmissionoverhead, security by ciphering the data packets, and handover supportfor UEs between node Bs. The RLC sublayer 411 provides segmentation andreassembly of upper layer data packets, retransmission of lost datapackets, and reordering of data packets to compensate for out-of-orderreception due to hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ). The MACsublayer 409 provides multiplexing between logical and transportchannels. The MAC sublayer 409 is also responsible for allocating thevarious radio resources (e.g., resource blocks) in one cell among theUEs. The MAC sublayer 409 is also responsible for HARQ operations.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a Node B 510 in communication with a UE550, where the Node B 510 may be the Node B 208 in FIG. 8, and the UE550 may be the UE 210 in FIG. 8 or the UE 12 including reconfigurationcomponent 22 in FIG. 1. In the downlink communication, a transmitprocessor 520 may receive data from a data source 512 and controlsignals from a controller/processor 540. The transmit processor 520provides various signal processing functions for the data and controlsignals, as well as reference signals (e.g., pilot signals). Forexample, the transmit processor 520 may provide cyclic redundancy check(CRC) codes for error detection, coding and interleaving to facilitateforward error correction (FEC), mapping to signal constellations basedon various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase-shift keying (BPSK),quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK), M-phase-shift keying (M-PSK),M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM), and the like), spreading withorthogonal variable spreading factors (OVSF), and multiplying withscrambling codes to produce a series of symbols.

Channel estimates from a channel processor 544 may be used by acontroller/processor 540 to determine the coding, modulation, spreading,and/or scrambling schemes for the transmit processor 520. These channelestimates may be derived from a reference signal transmitted by the UE550 or from feedback from the UE 550. The symbols generated by thetransmit processor 520 are provided to a transmit frame processor 530 tocreate a frame structure. The transmit frame processor 530 creates thisframe structure by multiplexing the symbols with information from thecontroller/processor 540, resulting in a series of frames. The framesare then provided to a transmitter 532, which provides various signalconditioning functions including amplifying, filtering, and modulatingthe frames onto a carrier for downlink transmission over the wirelessmedium through antenna 534. The antenna 534 may include one or moreantennas, for example, including beam steering bidirectional adaptiveantenna arrays or other similar beam technologies.

At the UE 550, a receiver 554 receives the downlink transmission throughan antenna 552 and processes the transmission to recover the informationmodulated onto the carrier. The information recovered by the receiver554 is provided to a receive frame processor 560, which parses eachframe, and provides information from the frames to a channel processor594 and the data, control, and reference signals to a receive processor570. The receive processor 570 then performs the inverse of theprocessing performed by the transmit processor 520 in the Node B 510.More specifically, the receive processor 570 descrambles and despreadsthe symbols, and then determines the most likely signal constellationpoints transmitted by the Node B 510 based on the modulation scheme.These soft decisions may be based on channel estimates computed by thechannel processor 594. The soft decisions are then decoded anddeinterleaved to recover the data, control, and reference signals. TheCRC codes are then checked to determine whether the frames weresuccessfully decoded. The data carried by the successfully decodedframes will then be provided to a data sink 572, which representsapplications running in the UE 550 and/or various user interfaces (e.g.,display). Control signals carried by successfully decoded frames will beprovided to a controller/processor 590. When frames are unsuccessfullydecoded by the receiver processor 570, the controller/processor 590 mayalso use an acknowledgement (ACK) and/or negative acknowledgement (NACK)protocol to support retransmission requests for those frames.

In the uplink, data from a data source 578 and control signals from thecontroller/processor 590 are provided to a transmit processor 580. Thedata source 578 may represent applications running in the UE 550 andvarious user interfaces (e.g., keyboard). Similar to the functionalitydescribed in connection with the downlink transmission by the Node B510, the transmit processor 580 provides various signal processingfunctions including CRC codes, coding and interleaving to facilitateFEC, mapping to signal constellations, spreading with OVSFs, andscrambling to produce a series of symbols. Channel estimates, derived bythe channel processor 594 from a reference signal transmitted by theNode B 510 or from feedback contained in the midamble transmitted by theNode B 510, may be used to select the appropriate coding, modulation,spreading, and/or scrambling schemes. The symbols produced by thetransmit processor 580 will be provided to a transmit frame processor582 to create a frame structure. The transmit frame processor 582creates this frame structure by multiplexing the symbols withinformation from the controller/processor 590, resulting in a series offrames. The frames are then provided to a transmitter 556, whichprovides various signal conditioning functions including amplification,filtering, and modulating the frames onto a carrier for uplinktransmission over the wireless medium through the antenna 552.

The uplink transmission is processed at the Node B 510 in a mannersimilar to that described in connection with the receiver function atthe UE 550. A receiver 535 receives the uplink transmission through theantenna 534 and processes the transmission to recover the informationmodulated onto the carrier. The information recovered by the receiver535 is provided to a receive frame processor 536, which parses eachframe, and provides information from the frames to the channel processor544 and the data, control, and reference signals to a receive processor538. The receive processor 538 performs the inverse of the processingperformed by the transmit processor 580 in the UE 550. The data andcontrol signals carried by the successfully decoded frames may then beprovided to a data sink 539 and the controller/processor, respectively.If some of the frames were unsuccessfully decoded by the receiveprocessor, the controller/processor 540 may also use an acknowledgement(ACK) and/or negative acknowledgement (NACK) protocol to supportretransmission requests for those frames.

The controller/processors 540 and 590 may be used to direct theoperation at the Node B 510 and the UE 550, respectively. For example,the controller/processors 540 and 590 may provide various functionsincluding timing, peripheral interfaces, voltage regulation, powermanagement, and other control functions. The computer readable media ofmemories 542 and 592 may store data and software for the Node B 510 andthe UE 550, respectively. A scheduler/processor 546 at the Node B 510may be used to allocate resources to the UEs and schedule downlinkand/or uplink transmissions for the UEs.

Several aspects of a telecommunications system have been presented withreference to a W-CDMA system. As those skilled in the art will readilyappreciate, various aspects described throughout this disclosure may beextended to other telecommunication systems, network architectures andcommunication standards.

By way of example, various aspects may be extended to other UMTS systemssuch as TD-SCDMA, High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), High SpeedUplink Packet Access (HSDPA), High Speed Packet Access Plus (HSPA+) andTD-CDMA. Various aspects may also be extended to systems employing LongTerm Evolution (LTE) (in FDD, TDD, or both modes), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A)(in FDD, TDD, or both modes), CDMA2000, Evolution-Data Optimized(EV-DO), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16(WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Ultra-Wideband (UWB), Bluetooth, and/or othersuitable systems. The actual telecommunication standard, networkarchitecture, and/or communication standard employed will depend on thespecific application and the overall design constraints imposed on thesystem.

In accordance with various aspects of the disclosure, an element, or anyportion of an element, or any combination of elements may be implementedwith a “processing system” that includes one or more processors.Examples of processors include microprocessors, microcontrollers,digital signal processors (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays(FPGAs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), state machines, gated logic,discrete hardware circuits, and other suitable hardware configured toperform the various functionality described throughout this disclosure.One or more processors in the processing system may execute software.Software shall be construed broadly to mean instructions, instructionsets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, softwaremodules, applications, software applications, software packages,routines, subroutines, objects, executables, threads of execution,procedures, functions, etc., whether referred to as software, firmware,middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise.

The software may reside on a computer-readable medium. Thecomputer-readable medium may be a non-transitory computer-readablemedium. A non-transitory computer-readable medium includes, by way ofexample, a magnetic storage device (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk,magnetic strip), an optical disk (e.g., compact disk (CD), digitalversatile disk (DVD)), a smart card, a flash memory device (e.g., card,stick, key drive), random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM),programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), electrically erasablePROM (EEPROM), a register, a removable disk, and any other suitablemedium for storing software and/or instructions that may be accessed andread by a computer. The computer-readable medium may also include, byway of example, a carrier wave, a transmission line, and any othersuitable medium for transmitting software and/or instructions that maybe accessed and read by a computer. The computer-readable medium may beresident in the processing system, external to the processing system, ordistributed across multiple entities including the processing system.The computer-readable medium may be embodied in a computer-programproduct. By way of example, a computer-program product may include acomputer-readable medium in packaging materials. Those skilled in theart will recognize how best to implement the described functionalitypresented throughout this disclosure depending on the particularapplication and the overall design constraints imposed on the overallsystem.

It is to be understood that the specific order or hierarchy of steps inthe methods disclosed is an illustration of exemplary processes. Basedupon design preferences, it is understood that the specific order orhierarchy of steps in the methods may be rearranged. The accompanyingmethod claims present elements of the various steps in a sample order,and are not meant to be limited to the specific order or hierarchypresented unless specifically recited therein.

The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in theart to practice the various aspects described herein. Variousmodifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilledin the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied toother aspects. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to theaspects shown herein, but is to be accorded the full scope consistentwith the language of the claims, wherein reference to an element in thesingular is not intended to mean “one and only one” unless specificallyso stated, but rather “one or more.” Unless specifically statedotherwise, the term “some” refers to one or more. A phrase referring to“at least one of” a list of items refers to any combination of thoseitems, including single members. As an example, “at least one of: a, b,or c” is intended to cover: a; b; c; a and b; a and c; b and c; and a, band c. All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of thevarious aspects described throughout this disclosure that are known orlater come to be known to those of ordinary skill in the art areexpressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to beencompassed by the claims. Moreover, nothing disclosed herein isintended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether suchdisclosure is explicitly recited in the claims. No claim element is tobe construed under the provisions of 35 U.S.C. §112, sixth paragraph,unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase “means for” or,in the case of a method claim, the element is recited using the phrase“step for.”

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of communication, comprising:determining whether a communication characteristic value meets orexceeds a communication characteristic threshold value; adjusting aretransmission request transmission rate when the communicationcharacteristic value meets or exceeds the communication characteristicthreshold value; and sending a retransmission request to a networkentity based on the adjusted retransmission request transmission rate.2. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting the retransmission requesttransmission rate comprises increasing the retransmission requesttransmission rate by a value corresponding to a difference between thecommunication characteristic value and the communication characteristicthreshold value.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the increasing of theretransmission request transmission rate is proportional to an increasein the difference between the communication characteristic value and thecommunication threshold value.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein thecommunication characteristic value comprises one or more of atransmission automatic gain control (AGC) value, a transmit powercontrol (TPC) bit value, block error rate (BLER) value, acknowledgment(ACK) value, negative ACK value, hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)value, and a radio link control (RLC) frame error rate (FER) value. 5.The method of claim 1, further comprising triggering a status prohibittimer disregard state for at least a portion of a status prohibit timeperiod of a status prohibit timer when the communication characteristicvalue does not meet or exceed the communication characteristic thresholdvalue.
 6. The method of claim 5, further comprising sending aretransmission request to the network entity during the status prohibittime period, wherein the status prohibit timer disregard state permitsthe sending of the retransmission request during the status prohibittimer period.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the sending of theretransmission request occurs prior to an expiration of a statusprohibit time period maintained by the status prohibit timer.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising receiving at least a retransmittedportion of the configuration message in response to sending theretransmission request to the network entity.
 9. The method of claim 8,wherein the retransmitted portion of the configuration message comprisesone or both of a signaling radio bearer data and a data radio bearerdata.
 10. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting an absentportion of a configuration message, wherein detecting the absent portioncomprises determining one or more missing packet data unit (PDU)sequence numbers forming the configuration message.
 11. The method ofclaim 10, wherein detecting the absent portion comprises determining oneor more missing PDUs based at least on a missing PDU indicator, whereinthe missing PDU indicator indicates at least one of an approximateduration or an approximate size of the reconfiguration message.
 12. Themethod of claim 1, wherein sending the retransmission request comprisessending a status PDU to the network entity.
 13. The method of claim 12,wherein the status PDU requests the network entity to retransmit atleast an absent portion of the configuration message.
 14. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising repeating the sending of the retransmissionrequest at one or more successive time intervals until a completeconfiguration message is determined.
 15. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium, comprising: at least one instruction fordetermining whether a communication characteristic value meets orexceeds a communication characteristic threshold value; at least oneinstruction for adjusting a retransmission request transmission ratewhen the communication characteristic value meets or exceeds thecommunication characteristic threshold value; and at least oneinstruction for sending a retransmission request to a network entitybased on the adjusted retransmission request transmission rate.
 16. Anapparatus for communication, comprising: means for determining whether acommunication characteristic value meets or exceeds a communicationcharacteristic threshold value; means for adjusting a retransmissionrequest transmission rate when the communication characteristic valuemeets or exceeds the communication characteristic threshold value; andmeans for sending a retransmission request to a network entity based onthe adjusted retransmission request transmission rate.
 17. An apparatusfor communication, comprising: a memory storing executable instructions;and a processor in communication with the memory, wherein the processoris configured to execute the instructions to: determine whether acommunication characteristic value meets or exceeds a communicationcharacteristic threshold value; adjust a retransmission requesttransmission rate when the communication characteristic value meets orexceeds the communication characteristic threshold value; and send aretransmission request to a network entity based on the adjustedretransmission request transmission rate.
 18. The apparatus of claim 17,wherein to adjust the retransmission request transmission rate, theprocessor is further configured to execute the instructions to increasethe retransmission request transmission rate by a value corresponding toa difference between the communication characteristic value and thecommunication characteristic threshold value.
 19. The apparatus of claim18, wherein the increasing of the retransmission request transmissionrate is proportional to an increase in the difference between thecommunication characteristic value and the communication thresholdvalue.
 20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the communicationcharacteristic value comprises one or more of a transmission automaticgain control (AGC) value, a transmit power control (TPC) bit value,block error rate (BLER) value, acknowledgment (ACK) value, negative ACKvalue, hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) value, and a radio linkcontrol (RLC) frame error rate (FER) value.
 21. The apparatus of claim17, wherein the processor is further configured to execute theinstructions to trigger a status prohibit timer disregard state for atleast a portion of a status prohibit time period of a status prohibittimer when the communication characteristic value does not meet orexceed the communication characteristic threshold value.
 22. Theapparatus of claim 21, wherein the processor is further configured toexecute the instructions to send a retransmission request to the networkentity during the status prohibit time period, wherein the statusprohibit timer disregard state permits the sending of the retransmissionrequest during the status prohibit timer period.
 23. The apparatus ofclaim 22, wherein the sending of the retransmission request occurs priorto an expiration of a status prohibit time period maintained by thestatus prohibit timer.
 24. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein theprocessor is further configured to execute the instructions to receiveat least a retransmitted portion of the configuration message inresponse to sending the retransmission request to the network entity.25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the retransmitted portion of theconfiguration message comprises one or both of a signaling radio bearerdata and a data radio bearer data.
 26. The apparatus of claim 17,wherein the processor is further configured to detect an absent portionof a configuration message, and wherein to detect the absent portion,the processor is further configured to execute the instructions todetermine one or more missing packet data unit (PDU) sequence numbersforming the configuration message.
 27. The apparatus of claim 26,wherein to detect the absent portion, the processor is furtherconfigured to execute the instructions to determine one or more missingPDUs based at least on a missing PDU indicator, wherein the missing PDUindicator indicates at least one of an approximate duration or anapproximate size of the reconfiguration message.
 28. The apparatus ofclaim 17, wherein to send the retransmission request, the processor isfurther configured to execute the instructions to send a status PDU tothe network entity.
 29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the statusPDU requests the network entity to retransmit at least an absent portionof the configuration message.
 30. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein theprocessor is further configured to execute the instructions to repeatingthe sending of the retransmission request at one or more successive timeintervals until a complete configuration message is determined.